ons must be forthcoming whatever
be the consequence; our business cannot be carried on without them.

That the natives wantonly destroy the game in years of deep snow is
true enough; but the snow fell to as great a depth before the advent
of the whites as after, and the Indians were as prone to slaughter the
animals then as now; yet game of every description abounded and
want was unknown. To what cause then are we to ascribe the present
scarcity? There can be but one answer--to the destruction of the
animals which the prosecution of the fur-trade involves.

As the country becomes impoverished, the Company reduce their outfits
so as to ensure the same amount of profit,--an object utterly beyond
their reach, although economy is pushed to the extreme of parsimony;
and thus, while the game becomes scarcer, and the poor natives require
more ammunition to procure their living, their means of obtaining
it, instead of being increased, are lessened. As an instance of the
effects of this policy, I shall mention what recently occurred in the
Athabasca district.

Up to 1842 the transport of the outfit required four boats, when it
was reduced to three. The reduction in the article of ammunition was
felt so severely by the Chippewayans, that the poor creatures, in
absolute despair, planned a conspiracy to carry off the gentleman at
the head of affairs, and retain him until the Company should restore
the usual outfit.

Despair alone could have suggested such an idea to the Chippewayans,
for they have ever been the friends of the white man. Mr. Campbell,
however, who had passed his life among them, conducted himself with so
much firmness and judgment, that, although the natives had assembled
in his hall with the intention of carrying their design into
execution, the affair passed over without any violence being
attempted.

The general outfit for the whole northern department amounted in 1835,
to 31,000l.; now (1845) it is reduced to 15,000l., of which one-third
at least is absorbed by the stores at Red River settlement, and a
considerable portion of the remainder by the officers and servants of
the Company throughout the country. I do not believe that more than
one half of the outfit goes to the Indians.

While the resources of the country are thus becoming yearly more and
more exhausted, the question naturally suggests itself, What is to
become of the natives when their lands can no longer furnish the means
of subsistence? Thi